The Department of Chemistry was delighted to learn Professor Eugenia Kumacheva has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 E.W.R. Steacie Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC).
“Her research interests are in the area of soft matter, with a focus on the fundamental chemistry, physics and applications of polymers, gels, colloids, foams, liquid crystals, and biological systems,” reads the CIC announcement. “She actively uses in her research microfluidics and 3D printing. Eugenia has published 2 books, 10 book chapters, and >315 papers. She has given >330 invited, keynote, and plenary lectures, as well as public lectures.”
The announcement went on to note that Prof. Kumacheva holds more than 40 patents and is a founder of two startup companies, citing her as an active proponent of the involvement of women in STEM and listing her many honours and accomplishments, including induction into the Order of Canada in 2020.
Kumacheva noted that her most recent work has included some exciting medical partnerships: “Over the past 6-7 years, I initiated collaborations with 3 hospitals. Through these collaborations, I was excited to see that fundamental natural science research can have impact on medical care of cancer, osteoarthritis, and chronic wounds.”
“I am always most excited about the most recent work. In 2025, my group and I published 2 papers - one about a self-driving lab integrating machine learning for nanomaterial synthesis (highlighted here in Chemistry Stories) and another one - integration of machine learning with organoid-on-a-chip for finding the best regimens for anticancer drug administration.”
Professor Mitchell Winnik of the Department of Chemistry applauded the CIC’s choice. “Eugenia joined my lab as a postdoc in 1995. As I was leaving for a sabbatical in Germany the following year, she asked me if she should apply for the newly opened Assistant Professor position in Physical Chemistry in this department. I told her that if she did not apply, there was little chance of getting the position. When I returned from my sabbatical, she told me that she was very happy to have a position in physical chemistry. It is a subject she loves, and it meant that she would not have to do synthesis anymore.”
“In retrospect, this is ironic, because with her interest in soft matter chemistry and physics, at least half of the ongoing projects in her group involve synthesis.”
Winnik said that he urged his newest colleague to be open to the unexpected. “I told her that on her first sabbatical leave, she should be sure to go away to another laboratory—that something unanticipated would occur, and it would change the direction of her research. She went to George Whitesides’s laboratory at Harvard and learned microfluidics.”
While there, he said, she conceptualized and developed continuous microfluidic synthesis of polymer particles with exquisite control over size, shape and morphology.
Kumacheva has since become a world authority on microfluidics, according to Winnik. Guided by the rapid development of microfluidic technologies, she developed a novel method for the fabrication of polymer-based labs-on-a-chip. “She and her postdoc founded the spin-off company FlowJEM that supplies microfluidic devices to academia, industry and hospitals.”
Winnik also praised her effectivness as a teacher: “Eugenia sets high scientific standards, both for the topics that merit investigation and for the quality of data that one should obtain. She is a gifted mentor. Many of her students and postdocs have taken faculty positions in Canada and elsewhere.”
Asked about her approach to teaching, Kumacheva said: “I always treat students - both undergraduate and graduate - as my colleagues. We brainstorm, hypothesize and fantasize together and are delighted to see that some of these ideas are realized in the lab.”
This legacy of mentorship ensures that Kumacheva is not only advancing the frontiers of polymer science and microfluidics but have shaping the next generation of researchers. It is a legacy of innovation and mentorship well worthy of the E.W.R.Steacie Award.
Kumacheva will receive the award and give an award lecture at The Canadian Societies for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering 2026 Conferences and Exhibition (x2026), to be held in Toronto this May 24-28.
I was excited to see that fundamental natural science research can have impact on medical care of cancer, osteoarthritis, and chronic wounds. --Eugenia Kumacheva